ML20137G412

Informs That Technical Ltr Repts No Longer Automatically Entered Into Document Control Sys.Decision to Put Info on Sys Rests W/Nrc Project Manager

ML20137G412
Person / Time
Issue date:	12/31/1985
From:	NRC OFFICE OF ADMINISTRATION (ADM)
To:	Troutman C NRC OFFICE OF NUCLEAR REGULATORY RESEARCH (RES)
Shared Package
ML20137G400	List: ML20137G396 ML20137G412
References
8601170685, NUDOCS 8601170688
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'. I UNITED STATES

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NUCLEAR REGULATORY WASHING TON, D.C. 20555 COMMISSION December 31, 1935 NOTE FOR:

Charles Troatman, RES From:

g SectionPublishing and Translations Manageme,ntPolicy 6 Publications Branch DivisionADM Control, of Tech. In fo. 6 Doc.

SUBJECT:

TECHNICAL LETTER REPORTS Procedures the Department o for PlacementIn 1102, accord with Manual C paragraph 18(a), f Energy,of is now specified Tech. Ltr.Rpts. Work withrevised 5/31/85, be that "it technical letter reportsinterim .

" reports These reports are no longer a t entered (DCS) into the Document u omatically Information and Document Contby the Division of Te is now the responsibility of th rol. It Project Manager to decide ife hshe wants e NRC

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the information on the syst em.

To get DCS, your document - ..

send the report with entered a coverinto not the e,

"copy enter onto to the theDocument Public DCS and onesend to: Room" Jim McKnight Records MS016 Services Branch

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NUCLEAR PLANT ANALYZERa E.T. Laats R.'J. .Beelman Idaho National Engineering Laboratory EG6G Idaho, Inc.'-

P.0; Box 1625 Idaho Falls, ID 83415 INTRODUCTION ..

The Nuclear Plant Analyzer (NPA) is a f state-of-the-art safety, analysis and engineering tool being used to address key nuclear. safety issues.I 3 Un'de r the sponsorship of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.(NRC), the NPt ,

integrates the NRC's computerized reactor behavior' simulation codes sucl a*

RELAP5, TRAC-BWR, and TRAC-PWR, with well-developed color graphics programs and large repositories of reactor design and experimental data.0-7 The:NPA project is jointly conducted with the Los Alamos National Laboratory!(LANL).

EG6G Idaho serves as overall project. coordinator for the NRC.

The NPA became operational in late 1983.at the Idaho National Engineering.

Laboratory (INEL). This paper will present an overview of thef.NPA system, discuss several recent applications using.the NPA with various simulation codes, and will conclude with a brief discussion on future NPA development.

OVERVIEW OF THE NUCLEAR PLANT ANALYZER -

A depiction of the major components.of th'e NPA system'are shown'on Figure VII.6-1. The heart of the NPA system is the Executive. Processor, which is the user-friendly interface to all=other components. ~ The key components .

are the simulation codes such as RELAP5-and TRAC,cand the graphical display-functions that convert the data to the desired output format. ~ The other com-ponents on the figure represent'the numerousisup~ port data bases (for st' o rage . .

of input decks for simulation codes, storage of past, calculations, storage of t experimental data) and utilities that enhance the overaliscapabilitie's of the system. An important NPA' feature is the capability to, allow an' analyst to; redirect a code calculation.as it progresses through;its simulated scenario.

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The, analyst can have the same power plant l control capabilities as the operator. ;g of the actual. plant.

The NPA resides on.the: dual Control Data . Corporation'(CDC) Cyber 176 mainframe computers at the. INEL and the Cray-1S computer at the LANL.i .-Users access the ~

NPA through' high speed communications lines and a; workstation that ' consists of a color graphics device-(Tektronix 41158 or 4125),.to.displayLthe data', and an alphanumeric terminal- to' enter:the: control' commands. L An' example display 1 >

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that may. be seen on the color graphics ' device 1is shown 'on Figure VII.6-2. Thel '

raw data.have 'been converted.to ; colors to depict - coola'nt water ' state, = com--

ponent status (openjor-closed' valves .for example). water levels, fuel rod' stored energy, or. to depict: flow direction arrows, or'X-Yrplot' data points,;

a. - Work sponsored by'the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, .Of fice of: <

- Nuclear Regulatory Research, under: Department of. Energy. Contract;No.' H, DE-AC07-76ID01570. -

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VII.6-2 or just to digital data. These examples are only a few of the techniques that have been employed for the NPA. Collectively, all of these NPA sof tware and hardware features make it a most flexible true engineering simulator.

RECENT APPLICATIONS Since the NPA system became operational in late 1983, numerous tasks have,been performed with the NPA that have directly supported NRC needs.- The most note-worthy tasks fall'into five categories: operator guideline evaluation; experi-ment ^ evaluation, advanced concepts' testing, emergency preparedness training, and emergency response.

Operator Guideline. Evaluation - The NPA, while' driving the RELAPS code, was.

used to evaluate the. Babcock and Wilcox Abnormal- Transient Operator Guidelines that direct the plant operators during abnormal transients. The NPA's inter-active plant control capability enabled the~ analysts to perform realistic simulations typical of plant operator actions not .previously possible when.

using these codes in the batch mode. The' code output was displayed through the graphical display " mask" shown on Figure VII.6-2. ; The study results indicated a positive effect when the Guidelines are-implemented.8 A similar task was performed for a boiling water reactor to evaluate proposed- 4 Emergency Procedure Guidelines for an Anticipated Transient Without Scram..

The plant's control system automatically controlled the plant's response until-an operator manually implemented recovery procedures as per'the proposed guidelines. The NPA display of the simulated data vividly illustrated-how well the overall system responded when.the Guidelines were implemented.9-The graphical display mask used- to depict the simulated data .is shownfin -

Figure VII.6-3.

Experiment Evaluation - Data from the Semiscale ! test f acility-have been dis-

[ played through the NPA's color graphics ~ system to enhance the 'overall under-l standing of the experiments' complex phenomena.10 These phenomena were

! observed when hundreds of channels of test' data were converted and displayed' j as a dynamic picture.through the NPA.f A graphic'al. display Emask'used.by the.

l Semiscale facility' staff is shown as' Figure VII.6-4.-

i L Advanced Concepts Teseing - By coup 1ing the NPA with the i ATHENAIIl advanced-

! energy systems simulation code, concepts quite different. from commercial power.-

plants have been simulated. For example, a preliminary design of. the proposed:

SP-100 space satellite power plant has be'en modeled,12 as -was an advanced:

L TRIGA power system.I3 Exotic . hardware, such as heat pipes and ; Freon l secon--

l' dary coolant loops, were part of the'.models used here.- Abnormal events have l been simulated with the ATHENA code and _then analysed with the' aid of the NPA color' graphics display: capabilities., The graphical display masks used!for_,

. these - two design's are :shown on Figures ' VII.6-5' and - VII.6-6. L-'

Emergency Preparedness Training ---The NPA's' capability;to' allow interactive. -

-redirection' of ~a simulation has enabled an 'important training program to be ,

performed. 'The'NPA with.RELAP5'has been used'to simulate the role of a' -

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. stricken power plant at emergency preparedness exercisesiconducted for the ~

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NRC.I4 .The exercises were used to train thegtaff at the NRC'slOperationsi *

! CenterL to ;most ef fectively= respond. to 'a : power plant crisis'.3 The' NPA . work - ,

[ station 1(that is,; the:simu_ lated power plant)lvas4 located outside; the Opera-t 3

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Center in a nearby-building. High-speed communications lines were=usedu l

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VII.6-3 between the workstation and the INEL mainframe computers where the NPA was operating. Voice communications from the " power plant" to the Operations Center were through the normal telephone lines that would be used during an actual event.

During one exercise the response teams were given the opportunity to suggest a redirection of the scenario in progress. That suggestion was subsequently implemented. Following the exercise, a follow-up critique was held where the response teams were shown on an NPA workstation the actual scenario and the consequences of their suggested action on power plant performance. The value of high fidelity simulation data, interactive redirection capabilities, and ,

color graphics replay capabilities were invaluable for these exercises.

Emergency Response Support - The NPA with RELAP5 was also used to replicate and evaluate the loss of feedwater event that occurred at the Davis-Besse Plant on June 9, 1985. Within two weeks after the event, a detailed RELAPS model was used to replicate the event, and then extended beyond the actual time when the event was mitigated. This time period was exceptionally,short considering the complexity of the simulation model and severity of the calcu-lation itself. The NPA's capability to interactively " control the plant" enabled the NRC staff to overcome a problem of minimal measured plant data and still be able to duplicate plant response by perturbing plant control systems until the observed response was replicated.

This simulation capability also enabled the NRC to evaluate the timing.and consequences of other possible operator actions. During the four months fol-lowing the Davis-Besse event, the NRC staf f completed fif teen calculations in all. During that time, the NRC staff performed these calculations in piece-

! meal fashion. The INEL staff then reviewed these calculations from an INEL-I based workstation and provided feedback to the NRC staff. The~ turnaround time to provide feedback was nearly instantaneous using the nationwide NPA system.

FUTURE DIRECTION The future of the NPA program is multidirectional.' The incorporation of more

• and faster simulation codes, and the implementation of the-current NPA system on larger and faster computing hardware (e.g., Class VI computers) are two emminent tasks. These enhancements are expected to provide significantly f aster simulation capability than real-time.- .The expected use of multi-processor computers will also enable the efficient coupling of the NPA with expert systems to provide " intelligent aids" for the NPA user.

In the other direction, smaller stand-alone_NPA workstations will be

' developed l5 to enable local computational and graphical display capabilities similar to those now available through the mainframe' computers at the.INEL and-the LANL. The achievement of real-time simulation at the workstation with the' fastest code, RELAP5, could very likely be attained by'1990.

In summary, the NPA is the NRC's state-of-the-art safety analysis and engi-neering tool.that combines complex simulation codes, color graphics capabil-ities, and large data bases. The NPA has been used for diverse applications ~

to address NRC licensing and research issues. .The' future direction of the NPA-is to move both toward larger and faster hardware and sof tware, as well as toward smaller stand-alone workstations.

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.6-VII.6-4' ACKNOWLEDGMENTS .

I The authors wish to acknowledge the- efforts of the many ' people whose work is.

being reported in this paper and referenced below. In addition, the following

j. people are acknowledged: M. A. Bray, J.N., Curtis, R.W. , Garner, M. A. King .and l l D.D. Schwieder of the INEL, and E.D. Throm of the NRC.

i NOTICE This paper was prepared as an account of work sponsored by an agency of the j- United States Government. Neither the United States Government nor any agency.

l thereof, or any other employees, makes warranty, expressed or implied, or assumes any legal liability or responsibility for any . third' party's use or .

the results of such use, or any information,- apparatus, product' or process  ;

disclosed in this report, or represents that its use by such third party would.

! not infringe privately owned rights. The views expressed in.this paper are-i not necessarily those of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

4.

REFERENCES

1. K.D. Russell et al., Nuclear Plant Analyzer shd Data Bank Common User i Interface: Functional Requirements, Conceptual Design, and Hardware Consider-L ations, EGG-SAAM-6419, September 1983.

2. -H.D. Stewart et al., NECTAR (NPA) Program and Reference Manual, ,

[ EGG-IS-6825, January 1985.

J l 3. E.T. Laats et al., User's Manual For The U.S.' Nuclear Regulatory Commis-l sion's Nuclear Plant Analyzer, EGG-RST-7044, September 1985. - .

4. V.H. Ransom, R.J. Wagner, . RELAP5/ MOD 2 Code Manual Volume 1 : Code-j Structure, Systems Models and Solution Methods, EGG-SAAM-6377 . April :1984.; ,

f .

! 5. TRAC-BD1' Code Development. Group, TRAC-BDl/ MODI: An' Advanced Best Estimate

} Computer Code For Boiling Water Reactor Transient- Analysis. . NUREG/CR-3633, .  !

EGG-2294,-April 1984.

l 6. D.R. Liles , J.H. 'Mahaf fy' (Principal Inv'estigators), TRAC-PFI'/MODl: - An , ,

Advanced Best Estimate Computer-Program For Pressurized Water Reactor Thermal-.

I i Hydraulic Analysis, Los Alamos National Laboratory Draf t-Reports; February; 1984. [

7. H.A. Hardy, E.T. Laats,K Introductory Us'er's' Manual For The U.S.' Nuclear? ,

4- Regulatory Commission Reactor Safety Research Data Bank, NUREG/CR-2531 Rev.- *

- 3. EGG-2164,' March 1985. . -

4

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8. ' RiJ.' Beelman, B.D.: Stitt, Applic2 tion df' RELAPS To -Evaluation of Babcock ,

'6o Wilcox' (B&W) Abnormal Transient- Operating Guidelines ( ATOG)- For Portions Of l

Selected Small' Break Scenarios In Oconee-1, EGG-SAAM-6508' ,.~ July 1984. =

I .

l

! 9.1 c W.C.1Jouse , "INEL BWR . Severe ' Accident ' ATWS _ Study,'" Eleventh Water Reactorl (

Safety Research Information Meeting',1NUREG/CP-0048,.' January 1984.< H:

ll- ,

10s ~K.E. Sackett, L.B. Clegg, Experiment Data Report ~ for Semiscale MOD-2B Power Loss Test Series -(Tests S-PL-1, -2, -3),; NUREG/CR-3419, August - 1983.

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11. H. Chow et al. , (Principal Investigators), ATHENA Code Manual Volume -1:

Code Structure, Systems Models, Solution' Methods, and Input Data Require- ~

ments, DRAFT, EGG-RST-7034, September 1985.

12. C.D. Fletcher, Capabilities Of The ATHENA Code For Modeling The SP-100 Space Reactor Concept , EGG-RST-7025 September 1985.

13. . C.D. Davis, Development Of Capability To Model A TRIGA Reactor Using ATHENA, EGG-RST-6876, May 1985.

14. R.J. Beelman et al., " Nuclear Plant Simulation Using Th'e Nuclear Plant-Analyzer," Transactions of The International Conference 'on Power Plant Simu- -

lation, Cuernavaca, Mexico, November 1984.

15. E.T. Laats et al. , Microcomputer-Based (" Type-3") Workstation-For The Nuclear Plant Analyzer, EGG-RST-6803, February 1985.

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